Boat Trailer Tire Wear Question

The tires on my boat trailer seem to be wearing "funny" - the boat is just over a year old and I've got somewhere around 3000 miles on the trailer tires. I've never rotated the tires. Tire pressure is around 45 lbs.

The photo shows the passenger side tire, looking toward the back of the boat so the "outside" of the tire is on the left. The tire on the other side looks pretty much the same, with the wear pattern on the opposite side.

As you can see in the photo, the outside 2 treads are almost gone, the 3 in the middle are barely worn at all and the 2 treads on the inside are worn but not as bad as the outside.

Any clues as to why the tires are wearing so badly? The obvious answer might be an alignment problem with the trailer - if that's the case, how do I get it fixed?

Marty, didn't you say the bearings were loose earlier in the year? I have a backtrack trailer and my tires wore evenly on both sides much like yours. If i were a betting man i'd say mine wore from bearing slop. Since i've repacked the bearings the wear has quit on each side.

Marty, didn't you say the bearings were loose earlier in the year? I have a backtrack trailer and my tires wore evenly on both sides much like yours. If i were a betting man i'd say mine wore from bearing slop. Since i've repacked the bearings the wear has quit on each side.

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Loose bearings would cause them to wear on the inside, not the outside. Gravity will force them down causing them to lean in at the top making the wear patterns opposite of what he has.

I forgot to read exactly where they were wearing. :roll_eyes: On my trailer they were feathering (dipping) on the outside edges and wore much the same with exception of even wearing on both sides. Its seemed to quit after repacking the bearings.......... Marty have you done a repack since they were loose?

I've had several trailers, not all boat, that wore thread wrong. I blame that on the manufacture. I don't think they are precision bilt. They just weld them togeather and put them out. I bet they are not machine alighned. I just switched them around and played with the tire pressure.

Most trailer axles are manufactured with a lil arch in the upward direction. This allows them to flatten out under their specific weight rating. If they didnt have this arch built in, they would bow past centerline under load, causing the trailer to handle badly. I would check to see if you still have an upward arch when unloaded. Your axle may not be square to the trailer, or you need to check for a bearing problem. Good luck!:cool2: